2D Agile Beamsteering using an Electronically Reconfigurable Transmitarray

This manuscript introduces an alternative method for 2 Dimensional (2D) fast beamsteering commutation by using a Electronically Reconfigurable Transmitarray (eRT). Supported by previous work carried out by the authors, the performance of a prototyped eRT it is evaluated under the described circumstances. The transmitarray, composed by an artificial lens and an electronic beamsteering controller, allows the main lobe of the radiation pattern of a reference horn antenna to be steered to any desired angle, in both azimuth and elevation planes, in a fraction of a second. Agile beamsteering is accomplished by quickly varying the control voltage at the terminals of varactor diodes present at the surface of each layer that composes the artificial lens. An angular steering rate that can go up to 5kHz was achieved with the prototyped hardware under experimental conditions.